All that Was and All That Ever Will Be
by SarCuppCake
Summary: Kit Harris is a nerd girl, she's been gunning down zombies for years but that was in video game form. When the small town she and her sister, Annie, lives in is over ran she heads out of town with Annie's boyfriend Merle and his brother Daryl. What happens when she finds out that no amount of video games prepared her for what was coming, she needs Daryl more than she expected.DD/OC
1. Chapter 1: Love Hate Tragedy

**Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Walking Dead, sometimes I take it out of the box and play with it for a little while, I do however own Kit and Annie Harris. **

**Summary:** Kit Harris and Daryl Dixon have known each other for years but it's not until the world goes into a tail spin that they learn that there could be more to what they have than meets the eye.

**Author's Note:** This story starts preseason one and will eventually fall into cannon. Because of the way this story starts you can expect plenty of flash backs mostly because I love writing them. As always your feedback is always welcomed and wanted.

Just wanted to say that just because I started this story doesn't mean that I'm not going to continue Kindred Spirits there's definitely more to come with that story but when the people who reside in my head begins to speak I can't ignore them. Well I can…it's just that it can get very painful. I'm not exactly sure about where What Matters to the Heart is going, I've been having trouble with that one for a while so anyone please don't lynch me if I don't continue it.

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**Chapter 1: Love Hate Tragedy**

It was nearly dusk when the glow from the camp's fire came into view. Merle and Daryl had been out most of the day trying to run down something to eat. Since they'd left the small town of Clayton they'd been trying to make the food they brought with them stretch a little further by adding fresh meet that they were able to hunt. The problem was that lately their hunts had been coming up pretty short but that day they'd gotten lucky. Merle managed to run across a den of rabbits, Annie and Kit would probably bitch about eating bunnies but the idea of rabbit stew had his stomach growling. As they came closer to their small camp it was clear that something was bad wrong. The side of one of the tents had a ragged gaping hole in one side. There were things knocked over and spilled out all over the ground. Merle looked over at his younger brother a look of fear on his face, "No…fuck no." he said his gruff voice full of fear. "Annie!" he yelled.

Neither man was prepared for what they found. "Oh fuck…oh God….Annie?" Merle asked running his hands over his face trying to hold back any and all emotions. There had only been one person who'd ever got him…who ever understood him and it had been his Annie. There she was her broken body lying in her sister's arms covered in blood the things that did it were a few feet away with bullet holes in their heads.

Kit was very aware of what was going on around her but at the same time everything was too bright the sounds too muffled. She saw Daryl and Merle come back into the camp but it seemed like they were far way that they were at the end of a tunnel. She could hear them speaking but couldn't hear what they were saying over the beating of her heart and the rushing of her blood in her ears. She couldn't stop crying even though her tears had stopped flowing long ago.

Daryl had no idea what to do, his brother well he'd never seen Merle like this. Hell half the time the man bitched about what a good for nothing piece of ass Annie was and that he'd be well rid of her if something happened to her. While Daryl had never believed that his brother meant this, his reaction to Annie's death had still come as a shocking surprise. Merle had never been one to let his emotions show and to see him here like this with tears pouring from his eyes…he didn't know what to do. Then there was Kit, the girl was a pain in his ass most of the time all he knew was that he didn't like seeing her like this, in shock. "Kit…I'm gonna take Annie now." He said trying to get the woman to release her sister. "Merle help me!"

"No!" Kit sobbed holding onto Annie tighter.

Merle pushed his brother out of the way and squatted down in front of the younger woman. His first reaction was to just knock her ass out but he had a feeling that Daryl would get his panties in a twist over it. It took a few minutes but finally they got Kit to let her go the only problem was she latched onto Daryl instead. "You take care of her, I'll…." Merle trailed off as he looked down at his girl now cold in his arms and stroked her hair.

Daryl nodded; he had no idea how he was supposed to do. He'd never been one to fuss over women; while he'd known Annie and Kit for years it didn't mean that he was good at any of this shit. Knowing that there was nobody else to do this he picked Kit up off of the ground. His first thought was to take her straight to her VW Bus but decided against it instead opting to take her to the stream that was just down the hill from the camp. He set her down on a bolder and pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and wet it in the cool stream water and started to bathe the blood, and dirt, and gore from her face. Once she was clean he gave her a small grin, "There you are." He said gently.

"I'm here." She said. Her voice was low and gravely, the voice of someone who'd been screaming…screaming for hours. "Annie-"

"Merle's going to take care of Annie." He promised.

"She has to be…and he won't do it. She was bit Daryl." She said standing up her knees still weak.

"Then I will." He said.

Kit just shook her head as she stood up and started back towards the camp as fast as her legs would carry her. It was when she reached the clearing that she realized her handgun was still clutched tightly in her hand.

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Merle had laid Annie's body to the side; he wanted to wait until last to deal with her. He wasn't sure how he should handle it. He'd burned the bastards who'd done that to his girl but he couldn't bring himself to do the same to her. All he could think about was how bad he'd been to Annie, he'd loved her and he'd never been able to share that with her. Maybe it was because of his father he'd been a mean bastard and he'd made sure that he and Daryl were mean bastards too. Only Daryl wasn't a mean bastard, sure he put on a show for Merle's sake but there was more going on in that head of his brother. Now that Annie was gone all he could think about was the bad things that he'd done to her. How he'd cheated on her with skanks that hadn't meant anything to him. It hadn't been about the sex neither it was something more than that it gave him power. It proved that he didn't need Annie; he just had her around because he wanted her there. Only now that she was gone he was starting to realize that he did need her and he hated her for that. Hated her for making him weak, and yet when he heard the rustling of leaves behind him he still couldn't help but turn and look with hope in his blue eyes. He knew that the lifeless shell that stood in front of him wasn't his Annie. Still seeing her there looking at him with those milky lifeless eyes and ambling towards him with her arms out, he couldn't help but hope that they'd been wrong that she was still alive.

Kit had made it to the clearing just as Annie had reanimated, she couldn't get the sick feeling out of her stomach when she watched her sister going after Merle her hands reaching for him. It was almost like a perversion of how their lives had really been. Annie had always been blind to the mean side of Merle, she'd always blindly reached for him. What astonished Kit even more was the way Merle approached her zombified sister as if he'd forgotten what she was, that she'd been killed, her throat ripped out by the two walkers were burning on the white hot flames of the fire. Without a second thought Kit raised the gun and pulled the trigger, just before Annie reached Merle she fell motionless to the ground.


	2. Chapter 2: Grief

**Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Walking Dead, sometimes I take it out of the box and play with it for a little while, I do however own Kit and Annie Harris.**

**Author's Note:** Just wanted to thank everyone who is reading, reviewing, and favoriting this story it really means so much to me so keep it coming.

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**Chapter 2: Grief**

The gun shot from Kit's gun echoed through the clearing in the woods and the fact that all the sounds of nature had gone quite the moment the walkers had joined them made it seem even more quite. Slowly Kit lowered the gun her hand trembling before finally releasing the gun and letting it fall to the ground with a loud echoing thud. Merle rushed to Annie his arms wrapping around her as he slowly sank to the ground. He couldn't believe this was happening, he couldn't believe the little bitch shot his girl, her sister. She was sick, she had no right, no right at all to do this. Without a second thought or a rational thought, he laid Annie down, pushing himself up. He walked across the clearing to where she was standing, once more frozen in shock, and back handed her across the face. The blow was so hard it caused her to fall to the ground but Kit didn't feel anything. "I'll kill ya…fucking bitch!"

Kit stood up wiping the blood from her lip on the back of her hand; before she realized what she was doing she balled up her fist and started to punch him. Before she had a chance Daryl had joined them back at camp and shoved Kit none too gently behind him.

"The fuck Merle?" he snapped at his brother shoving him back.

"That little bitch, she killed my gerl! My Annie!" he yelled in his brother's face.

"Merle she didn't kill Annie, Annie was gone she was dead you know that. Those things that killed Annie are on the fire. Hell Kit just saved your stupid ass life. I ain't gonna let you hurt her."

"Fuck ya both Darylina!" Merle snorted before walking away from the two of them. He had never been keen on fighting his brother in fair fights. Hell he'd never been keen on fighting anyone if the fight was fair. He preferred lying in wait and waiting for the right moment to make his move. He'd get Daryl back for this, he mentally promised himself. As he headed towards the woods he stopped by his motorcycle and grabbed his 'stash' the giant freezer bag full of things that would cure what ailed him. While he'd been clean for almost a year, the occasional pill or hit of meth there not included, he'd always liked knowing if he needed it his old friend was there waiting for him. Sure he'd gotten clean for Annie so she wouldn't leave him, but that reason was now twice dead. He needed a fix, just a little one to help get him through this. Then he'd be okay then he'd be able to deal with this shit. He could remember the first time he saw his Annie. She was barely nineteen, she'd just moved to Clayton with her father and bitch sister. He'd met Mick Harris first; he was a Vietnam vet one who'd never gotten over seeing the atrocities there. He was half afraid of everything and everyone around him. It only became worse when his wife died of ovarian cancer when she was barely 42. Unable to bear being in the same house that she died in surrounded by the people who knew her, he moved his family from South-Eastern Kentucky to Clayton, Georgia. As his life went on he became more and more dependent on sedatives and bourbon. The more he slipped from sanity the more he believed the government was trying to kill him. He spent his time in his storm cellar surrounded by semi-automatic rifles, all the army paraphilia that he'd collected over the years. Finally a year before the world went to shit he couldn't take it anymore; he put a gun barrel in his mouth, taking the coward's way out. It was probably for the best, the man might have started off as a survivalist, he ended up being a useless substance dependent burden on his daughters. He had however made sure to make sure that they knew how to survive if their government every caved. They were skills that had definitely came in handy recently, sadly it in the end it hadn't helped Annie. She was still cold, gone, lost to him.

Daryl's eyes didn't leave his brother until he'd back disappeared in the shadows of the forest. He knew that Merle was grieving and hell he didn't blame him. What had him worried was how his brother was dealing with his grief. He'd been clean for a while mostly because Annie told him that if he didn't stop using she'd leave him. Merle had taken her threat seriously went into rehab and hadn't really used anything since, well until now. Though they never made it official, as far as Daryl was concerned Annie had been family and he too would miss her. Not only that, she wouldn't be there to keep Merle in check when he came back from his trek into the woods. He was a mean son of a bitch when he was trashed, and Daryl knew damn well where that meanness would be directed. He spun around and looked at Kit who was standing there her hands clinched in white knuckled fists. "What the hell were you thinking?" he yelled at her. "I told you I'd handle it."

Kit's pale blue eyes slowly drifted up to his face, "We both know that he would hate whoever pulled the trigger on Annie, it had to be done. He can hate me all he wants to, I don't care. But you do, he's your brother."

Daryl just started at the woman; he wasn't sure what to say to that. He wasn't sure what he felt about the strange flutter in his heart at the idea that she'd done what she did as much for him as it was for her sister and Merle. She was right; Merle would hate who ever had to put Annie down, he damn near let her kill him and now he off in the woods getting trashed. "What are we going to do with her?" Kit asked softly, "The smell is going to start to draw more here."

Daryl nodded, "Go get cleaned up, I'll take care of this." He knew that they'd need to pack up and leave soon but with night soon on them there wouldn't be time. Best thing he could figure would be for them to sleep in the cars for the night before heading out.

Kit nodded, "What about…him." She nodded towards the trees where Merle had disappeared.

"He'll be gone for a while." Daryl said with a dejected sigh and mentally added, and he'll be mean as fuck when he gets back.

Kit nodded and walked to her VW Bus and grabbed her back pack from behind the seat. She knew when Daryl said that they needed to get cleaned up he'd meant the camp. She needed a few minutes alone, a few minutes to process the fact that her big sister was gone that she had no family left. She had no idea where she fit in this new scary world.

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**AN: I know this chapter was mostly Merle's inner dialog about losing Annie I promise the next one will be more about Kit and Daryl it just seemed appropriate to get all of this out of the way since Annie's death is an important part of the story.**


	3. Chapter 3: Alone

**Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Walking Dead, sometimes I take it out of the box and play with it for a little while, I do however own Kit and Annie Harris.**

**Author's Note:** Just wanted to thank everyone who is reading, reviewing, and favoriting this story it really means so much to me so keep it coming.

**To FanFicGirl10:** Even though this story starts preseason one it's actually inspired a lot by season 3 Merle. While he's still very rough around the edges he seems very tame compared to season 1 Merle. I kinda got to thinking about maybe something bad happened to cause him to be in a completely volatile state.

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**Chapter 3: Alone**

Daryl was getting Annie ready to put in the hole he'd spent well over an hour digging for her. He knew that burning her was probably the smartest move but he couldn't bring himself to do that, she deserved better. When he started to lift her off of the ground Merle came out of the woods, "Wait." He said. He walked over to where Daryl was with the body and kneeled down beside of her.

"You want a minute?" Daryl asked.

Merle shook his head one of his hands stroking Annie's hair, "I've said my peace." He nodded towards the woods, "I said it while I was out there." He pulled his bowie knife off of his belt and cut off one of the long hippy braids Annie always wore. He wrapped it around his hand twice before picking the body up gently and laid her in the hole. "I got this." He said looking over his shoulder at his brother.

Daryl nodded before turning to walk away, when he did his foot bumped something. He looked down and saw Kit's handgun still lying on the ground where she'd left it. He picked it up and tucked it into the back of his pants knowing that when she was herself again she'd want it back.

Kit was sitting in her van, the side doors. Were open and she was enjoying the cool night air. She knew that nights like this were numbered it wouldn't be long before the late spring nights would give way to those steaming hot summer ones. She was deep enough in thought that she hadn't even noticed when Daryl approached the van. He didn't say anything; instead he dropped a half crushed box of Twinkies in her lap. Kit couldn't help but smile a little. In all the years that shed known Daryl Dixon, she'd never been able to figure him out. He'd always been so distant like he was afraid to let anyone get too close. Then there were other times like just now, where he never failed to amaze her. "Thank you."

Daryl shrugged it off, "just figured you needed to eat something is all."

"And you were thinking Twinkies would make a good meal?" she teased. Kit knew that Daryl knew they were her favorite.

"Well it's just that with what happed I didn't get a chance to make that rabbit stew." He stammered. In fact he wasn't exactly sure where those rabbits had gotten to. Use suspected they were on the ground somewhere between camp and the forest.

"This is better than bunny stew." She assured him.

He smirked, "say you."

"Yeah well all I need to make me happy is a box of Twinkies, some ramen, and a Monster and I'm good to go." She said.

Daryl made a face. "Still don't see how you eat that shit."

"I've seen you eat some really nasty shit, I don't want to hear it." She said.

They didn't say much after that, Daryl stood there, leaning against the side of the van for a few minutes. Finally he turned to her, "I'm gonna go check make sure there's nothing lurking, make sure Merle's alright." He said. "Make sure you lock this up tonight, just in case." most it was just to humor him.

Daryl walked over to the fire where Merle was sitting. He propped his crossbow against one of the makeshift log benches before sitting down. "We should head out in the morning." Merle said, "Probably more of them things out there."

Daryl nodded in agreement, "You got any ideas?"

"They're still broadcasting about the refugee center in Atlanta." Merle said running his hand over his face. "I know we said we shouldn't go into a crowded area but I can't help but think that maybe if we had more people this wouldn't have happened."

"Maybe," Daryl said with a noncommittal voice. He knew what Kit's reaction would be; she'd been hardcore against going anywhere near Atlanta.

"Well Darylina if you can think of something better I'll be glad to hear it. For now I'm going to bed." With that Merle stood up and walked over to Daryl's truck, climbed in the cab and locked the doors.

Daryl looked about the camp for a few minutes; before he realized what he was doing he was walking towards Kit's van. He didn't even need to knock on the side of the van, she pushed the door opened and he crawled inside. She looked so small curled up on the mattress that made up most of the back of the van, "I didn't want to be alone tonight anyway." She said.

He nodded as he slipped his boots off neatly setting them by the door. He laid her gun and his bowie knife on the floor by the bed. "Thanks." He said.

Kit offered him one of her pillows and held the edge of the blanket opened for him. "No problem."

As Daryl settled himself down in her bed he realized something, the sentiment Kit had made about not wanting to spend the night alone, he felt the same way too. He, Daryl Dixon, who thrived on solitude didn't want to be alone.

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AN: Just wanted to say that I know this chapter is pretty short but I felt it best to end it here. From here on they'll be progressing towards where season 1 begins.


	4. Chapter 4: The Bond

**Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Walking Dead, sometimes I take it out of the box and play with it for a little while, I do however own Kit and Annie Harris.**

**Author's Note: Just wanted to thank everyone who is reading, reviewing, and favoriting this story it really means so much to me so keep it coming.**

**Chapter 4: The Bond**

Kit lay in her van the sun shining through the windows into her eyes, she wondered why Annie hadn't woke her up yet. After all Annie had been one to rise at the crack of dawn to start with the camp chores stirring the fire and beginning breakfast. It didn't take her long to remember what had happened the day before. As she came awake the events from the day before play through her mind the pain in her chest at the loss of her sister. Kit took a deep breath and closed her eyes trying to snuff out the stinging feeling of unshed tears. She couldn't allow herself to cry just then there was too much they needed to do that day. They needed to get the hell away from the clearing in the woods and breaking down wouldn't help them do that. She set up and pushed her long tangled mess of black hair over her shoulder before pulling her boots on and opened the side door to the van. "Well well if it isn't sleeping beauty gonna grace us with her presents." Merle sneered at her.

Kit glared at him as she pulled the strap of her back pack over her shoulder and headed towards the stream giving him the finger as she did. She'd never been a morning person and actually communicating with an actual person before she had a cup of coffee was a very bad idea.

"Shut up Merle." Daryl said.

Merle raised an eyebrow at his brother. "So she finally let you between her legs brother?" he jeered.

"It ain't like that." Daryl replied not addressing the fact that he'd spent the night in Kit's van. He knew that his brother would never believe that they'd spent the night just lying beside of each other. To Merle Dixon there was only on reason to share a bed with a woman and if that was if you were getting something in return. "Just…leave her alone."

"Well well who would have known that baby brother would get so touchy about a little pussy." Merle laughed.

"You know what fuck you Merle." Daryl said walking away from his brother.

Kit felt slightly better when she came back up to the camp from her dip in the spring. While the cold water didn't have quite the effect that a double shot espresso had it had helped some. After tossing her bag into the van she walked over to where the low burning fire was and took the plate of food Daryl and tin cup of coffee Daryl offered her. "So what's the plan?" she asked taking a long drink of the bitter black coffee.

"Merle's thinking we should head to Atlanta." Daryl said.

Kit almost choked, "You're shitting me, that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard."

Merle gave Kit a dark look, "How do you figure?"

"There are people eating other people, we only know that this disease is spread by bites and scratches. Going somewhere that has a shit-ton of people is the last thing we need to do." Kit said.

"And did you learn that from those stupid video games?" Merle asked.

"No actually I learned that from my father." Kit said then turned to Daryl, "You know I'm right about this."

He gave her a nod, he might agree with her but that didn't mean that he was going to go against his brother. He'd learned a very long time ago that disagreeing with his brother only caused more problems. Of course if or rather when this whole thing went south he also knew that Merle would push all of the blame on them, conveniently forgetting that it was his idea to begin with. "It might be worth a shot. I mean those things found us all of the way out here."

Kit closed her eyes and rubbed her temples, "This is a bad idea."

"Well you're more than welcome to stay out here by your lonesome." Merle shrugged.

Kit glared at him; they all knew that she wouldn't be left behind. Now that her only blood relative was gone the Dixon brothers were the closest thing she had left to family. "Fine."

"If it don't work out we can always haul ass out of there." Daryl offered.

"I'm holding you to that." Kit said and she meant it.

The son was high overhead when they finally got the camp packed up; the sun was already blistering down on them. In the old days where they were camped at was about a two hour straight shot to Atlanta. Of course that was before all hell had broken loose, Clayton had been a hell hole the night they'd left. She was horrified of what they were going to find in Atlanta. She was finishing loading up her things when Daryl walked over to her and handed her a walkie talkie. "Just changed the battery in it, Merle's gonna lead us out on the bike. You need anything just holler at me over this and I'll signal him."

Kit nodded, "I still think this is a bad idea."

Daryl nodded, "Merle thinks maybe that things wouldn't have happened the way they did if we would have been in a bigger group." Even as Daryl spoke the words he knew they were bullshit. Merle wanted to be closer to the city for one reason. His bag of tricks would only last so long before he'd need to replenish his supply.

"I'm just not sure that Merle's thinking all that clearly." Kit said, she didn't need to say it. They both knew that Merle was using again and not just a little.

"Don't worry about Merle I'll handle him." Daryl assured her.

Kit wanted to point out that the only one who knew how to handle Merle had been Annie but she didn't. Thinking about her sister hurt far too much, talking about her would be even worse. That morning when she'd woke up, for a brief moment she'd forgotten the horrors of the day before. But as the sun shone through the windows of her van it had slowly came back to her. The dent on the pillow that Daryl had used the night before had only confirmed that her nightmares were true. Annie was gone and the world wouldn't be getting better anytime soon. The thing that left her confused was the difference in how she and Daryl were interacting. She'd always considered them friends but something had changed the night before, something had caused an unspoken bond between them.


	5. Chapter 5: The Road to Atlanta

**Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Walking Dead, sometimes I take it out of the box and play with it for a little while, I do however own Kit and Annie Harris.**

**Author's Note: Just wanted to thank everyone who is reading, reviewing, and favoriting this story it really means so much to me so keep it coming. **

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**Chapter 5: The Road to Atlanta**

Over the course of the days that followed there was very little said between Kit, Daryl, and Merle. They did nothing but drive, often they would reach a destination only to learn that they had to turn around and go around it. They stopped only to refill Daryl's truck and Kit's van and every night since the time that the walkers attacked their camp and killed Annie; Daryl would crawl into Kit's van for the night. Nothing was ever mentioned about their sleeping arrangements aside from Merle's dickish remarks about Daryl finally 'putting the wood' to Kit. Both Daryl and Kit never gave Merle much thought and chalked it up to one thing, they were comfortable with each other and there was nothing wrong with that. By the time day three was coming to an end they finally made it to Atlanta and by making it to Atlanta, it meant they made it to the parking lot that used to be the highway going into the town. They were still miles out of the city limits but close enough they could see the city's skyline. When they arrived it was clear that some of those people had been there for days they had started to settle. In fact, the entire highway reminded Kit of the parking lot of a college football game. People were setting on tailgates chatting back and forth about what was going on, when the military was going to start letting people in, if there was a cure and how they were going to handle giving out the antidote. Morale among the people was high, they were sure that they'd be back in their homes before the week was out.

Kit put her van into neutral and cut the engine, she couldn't get over the sense of dread that pooled in her belly. The instinct that her father had instilled in her from the time she was old enough to talk was trying to take her over, not to mention the years of video game and comic book knowledge. Being this close to this many people during this kind of epidemic was sheer stupidity. "You two hold down the fort, I'm gonna go mingle with the people see what's going on." Merle said as he and Daryl climbed out of the truck.

"You don't have to say it." Daryl said looking down at Kit.

Kit pushed her hand through her long mess of black tangled curls as she looked up at Daryl, "We both know that we shouldn't be here."

Daryl sighed, "What would you have me do Kit? He's my brother."

"It's not like you had a choice in that matter." She pointed out.

"That's not fucking fair and you know it." Daryl narrowed his eyes at her, what came out of his mouth next he regretted. "You know if it was Annie's idea you would have followed her without second guessing it.

Kit's eyes filled with tears as she thought back to her sister. "You're right I would have backed my sister no matter what. The thing is you and I both know that she never would have put us into this kinda danger." She said then lowered her voice not wanting to be overheard. "We both know that Merle is using again that every night since Annie died and we've made camp he's gone off by himself and gotten stoned. He doesn't do well around people on his good days when he's like this, we don't know what he's capable of."

"He's…grieving Kit." He said looking down at her. He didn't want to admit that Kit was right even though he knew deep down that it was just an excuse. "Hell we all are, maybe he's right maybe if we would have been with more people it wouldn't have happened."

"That's not the reason we're here and we both know it." Kit said, looking up at him. "Merle wanted to be near the city just in case his supply runs low."

Daryl wanted so badly to be able to defend his brother but he couldn't. He knew that everything Kit said was true, Merle was once more in a downward spiral and when he got like this he hurt people. Daryl just hoped that he would be able to keep it from happening. He also knew that Kit would be number one on Merle's list of people to hurt.

As the afternoon slowly progressed into evening, Kit opened the suicide doors on her van and set just inside of the door to her van leaning against the door. She knew that Daryl was still a little pissed at her for not excepting his excuses for Merle's behavior, he hadn't said much to her since then. In fact he went ahead and hunted Merle down. Part of her, a part that she couldn't understand or explain hell, maybe she didn't want to understand it or explain it had been hurt at Daryl. She knew that he hadn't meant anything by his comment about Annie, nobody had gotten used to the fact that she was no longer with them. It was the fact that even though Merle wasn't even standing there with them and he was still siding with him. With a sigh Kit tossed her PSP on the bed, she'd played God of War until her eyes had started to go blurry and the battery wore out. It was then that she looked behind them; she knew that as time had gone on there were more people that arrived behind them. She just couldn't get over the feeling of panic when she realized that they were blocked in. There was no way that they'd be able to get away from that place if they needed to. Slowly she swung her legs over the side of the van and rested her elbows on her knees and leaned her head down running her hands over her long dark hair.

"Miss….Miss are you alright?" she heard a masculine voice call to her just before she saw a pair of feet that were cased in combat boots.

"Um…kinda claustrophobic," She said.

"You're outside." He pointed out.

"I know." She said then looked up at him. He was a good looking man probably around Daryl's age. There was something about the way he held himself that let her know that he knew he was a good looking man. "I never said it made sense."

"Are you here alone?" he asked kneeling down in front of her.

"Just me and my monkey at the moment." She said. "I'm with some friends. They went ahead to see if anyone had any information."

"You're a looking a little pale why don't you drink some of this?" he asked, unscrewing the lid on the bottle of water he'd been holding and handed it to her. "I'm Shane Walsh by the way."

"Kit Harris." She said before taking a sip of the water. "And I'm naturally this color…anyone can get a tan it takes years of dedication to be this pale."

Shane smirked at that, "You're a firecracker aren't you?" he asked.

Daryl couldn't explain the underlying rage that he felt when he seen some asshole talking to Kit. He shoved it out of his head, writing it off as something simple like the fact that it was his job to look after her. She'd just lost her sister and didn't need some asshole bugging her like this. "Is there a problem?" Daryl asked walking over to them.

When Shane heard the man he slowly stood up and faced him. "No, no problem she was looking a little pale I wanted to make sure she wasn't goin' to pass out."

"She always looks pale. Hell I'd be more worried if she had a suntan." Daryl said. "So what makes you think it's your obligation to make sure people don't pass out?"

"It's second nature; I'm Shane Walsh, I'm a deputy-sheriff in King County." Shane explained holding his hand out.

"Daryl Dixon." He said ignoring the man's hand and lighting a cigarette, "Damn King County actually has a police force? I thought they just had nosy Boy Scouts carrying water pistols."

Kit bit back a laugh, she knew if Daryl realized that she found what he'd said amusing it would only encourage him more. "Thank you officer but I'm okay." Kit said.

Shane nodded, "If y'all need anything just…we're over there." He nodded in the direction of where his car was. Leaning against the side was a tall willowy woman with long dark hair, to Kit it was clear that she was just as nervous about being there as she was, and a boy who looked maybe eleven or twelve.

"We'll keep that in mind Deputy Dolittle." Daryl said taking a drag from his cigarette and blowing out a long stream of smoke.

Kit slid over on the edge of the van and turned to face Daryl pulling her legs up and resting her arms on her knees. "Find out anything new?" she asked.

Daryl shook his head as he set down beside of her. "Nothin' we didn't already know, some good conspiracy theories but nothin' more. Now what happened with you?"

"There are eight cars behind us or at least there was the last time I made a mistake of looking." She said looking over at him.

"And?" he asked.

"I got this feeling I can't shake, I think being this close to people is a bad idea you know that. I think that something bad is goin' on in Atlanta I think that's the reason they're not letting anyone in." she explained. "If something happens we're not going to be able to get out of here."

Daryl flicked his cigarette on the road before turning to face her. "Shit goes down we'll get it worked out, we always do." He said running his fingertips over the back of her hand. "You ain't got nothin' to worry 'bout Kit."


	6. Chapter 6: The City Lights

**Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Walking Dead, sometimes I take it out of the box and play with it for a little while, I do however own Kit and Annie Harris.**

**Author's Note: Just wanted to thank everyone who is reading, reviewing, and favoriting this story it really means so much to me so keep it coming.**

* * *

**Chapter 6: The City Lights**

Shane shook his head as he walked away from the couple. He wasn't exactly sure what had just happened, he'd noticed the girl and her two companions when they first pulled up outside of the city and he couldn't help but feel like she was between a rock and a hard place with those two rough looking men. Hell the cut on her lip and the bruise on her jaw was enough to confirm what he was already thinking. Then there was the argument he'd witnessed between her and Dwight or Darren or whatever his name was.

Lori raised an eyebrow at Shane when he walked back over to her and Carl. "Everything alright?"

Shane shook his head, "Ain't nothin' I can do." He said leaning against the side of his car his arms crossed over his chest.

"Yeah well you're off duty these people aren't your responsibility." She pointed out.

"Doesn't mean I have to like it though." He said. "I think he's got her scared, she had a bruise on her jaw and a cut on her lip."

"Maybe a female prospective?" Lori asked.

Shane shook his head, "Nah best thing is to just let it alone. Situations like this it's the only thing you can do. I don't like it but it's all you can do, they have to decide they want out on their own."

Lori nodded, "It's sad."

* * *

It was well past dark when Merle came staggering up to their cars. It was clear to both Kit and Daryl that Merle had made new friends among the people scattered all about the highway and that those new friends had brought with them party favors and had shared them. "Well don't you two look all cozy like." Merle said leaning against the side of Kit's van.

Kit couldn't help but notice the way Daryl recoiled when he saw his brother. It was almost like when they were alone talking, he was free to be himself but when Merle showed up he closed off part of himself. "Did you find anything new out?" Daryl asked quickly standing up.

Merle shook his head, "Word is they're supposed to be letting some in but that's been the word all day.'

"Thanks for the insight." Kit said running her through her hair and looking towards the outline of the city skyline in front of them.

Daryl's brow wrinkled as he looked down at Kit, he knew that she was worried about everything that was going on, or rather what wasn't going on. "Maybe…you know tomorrow if things don't change we head out." He said.

"And go where?" Merle asked and then held his hands out. "This is it we're all out of options."

"Yeah well we gotta figure something out soon because this is gonna go downhill." Kit said.

"Had I known you were gonna turn out to be such a misery chick I would have left your ass in Clayton." Merle said.

"Knock it off Merle." Daryl said. "She's gotta point."

"Yeah well as much fun as this is I'm gonna call it a night." She said as she pulled one of the doors on her van shut.

"What about dinner?" Merle asked.

Kit reached behind her into one of the boxes that had their food in it. She pulled out a can of Spam and threw it at him. "Night Merle." She said before shutting the other door.

Merle barely caught the can before it smashed him in the nose. "Hey!" he yelled at the closed door then turned to his brother. "You need to teach that little cunt some manners." He turned and stomped off towards Daryl's truck.

Daryl couldn't help grin a little before turning back to the van and knocked gently on the door and waited for her to push it opened. He nearly swallowed his tongue when he saw her sitting there, she'd discarded her black and grey plaid button up leaving her in the grey cami she'd had on under it. She'd freed her long black hair from its braid. It was now spilling around her shoulders and down in her back in waves. "Merle pissed?" she asked as she grabbed her brush off of the seat behind her and started to run it through her hair.

"When ain't Merle pissed?" he asked sliding into the van and shutting the door and making sure they were both locked before he started unlacing his boots.

Kit's eyes roamed Daryl's back, she could see through the sleeveless shirt he was wearing the way his muscles flexed with each movement he made. She had no idea what it was that changed her prospective of how she looked at Daryl. It seemed like since everything that had gone down she started to see him in a new light. "I really hate that you're in the middle of this." She said her eyes locking with his briefly when he turned and leaned back on the bed and tucked his arm behind his head.

"Yeah well it is what it is." He said looking over at her. It seemed like it was only since he started to spend so much time with her that he really saw the difference between Kit and Annie. Before, he'd always thought of them as two parts of the whole that made up the Harris sister dynamic. Now he was seeing Kit…really seeing her. While Annie had taken after their father Mick, it was clear that Kit must have taken after her mother. Where Annie's complexion was more golden, Kit was porcelain. Annie had her father's brown eyes whereas Kit had pale blue eyes. They both had long masses of wavy hair but Annie's was a golden brown, Kit's was black and when the light hit it just right it almost had a blue or purple tone to it. Their appearances weren't the only thing that differed between the sisters their personalities did as well. Annie tended to be more outgoing she'd always been able to get Merle to do things that he had no intention of ever doing like his stent in rehab. Kit on the other hand had always been more on the quiet side. She preferred to spend her time with a good book be it a comic or a novel it didn't matter. She also liked to spend hours in front of her computer or TV playing some kind of video game. The difference between Kit and Annie was that Annie was naive overly trusting and put her faith in the wrong people. Kit was damn smart and not as likely to trust.

"I'm still sorry Daryl." She said as she pulled her hair over her shoulder to start braiding it again.

Before he realized what he was doing he pulled her hand from her hair, "Leave it be." He said but didn't let go of her hand.

Kit's heart was hammering in her chest it was so much that she was surprised, with the close proximity they were in the van that he couldn't hear it. "I was just trying to save you having it your face all night."

"I don't mind." He said using his free hand to tuck her hair behind her ear.

"Daryl." She said softly as she looked up at him her hand coming up to cup his on her face as he leaned in to kiss her softly.

Daryl wasn't exactly sure where the kiss had come from, maybe it was all the days that they'd been spending together the close quarters they were sleeping in, in the van. After the asshole earlier that day bugging her he felt like if he didn't make a move she'd take off on them with someone they didn't know. He wasn't sure what he felt for her he just knew that he didn't want to see her with someone else. Kit moaned softly against Daryl's lips, over the past few days she'd been doing a whole lot of thinking about what his kiss would feel like. She knew that doing this was a bad idea but she just couldn't seem to stop herself. There was the carnal part of her that needed to feel something besides the pain that had been lodged in her chest since the moment she pulled the trigger ending Annie's un-life. She knew that it wasn't fair to Daryl but when he lifted her into his lap she knew that the ball was put into motion and she wouldn't ever be able to go back.

He groaned as he swept his tongue into her mouth and tasted how sweet she was. He ran his hands up her back pressing her soft body into his. He couldn't remember the last time he'd been with someone like this. Females hadn't really been high on his list of priorities, sure there were times when he went to a bar and took one home but he found that more often than not they did nothing but complicate things. Slowly he pulled back and looked down at her, he could tell by the look in her pale eyes that she was just as confused about what was happening between them as he was. Kit didn't say anything as she started undoing the buttons on his shirt before leaning in and trailing kisses down the side of his neck. She smiled to herself when she felt his pulse quicken with her tongue flicked over it. "Goddamn girl." He groaned his hand running through her hair as he held her against him as she started trailing kisses down his chest.

Just as her hands reached the buckle of his belt there was an echoing 'boom'. Both Kit and Daryl scrabbled to right their clothes and pull on their boots before shoving the doors opened to the van. There was another 'boom' and light erupted from the Atlanta skyline…the city was being bombed.


	7. Chapter 7: Not Human

**Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Walking Dead, sometimes I take it out of the box and play with it for a little while, I do however own Kit and Annie Harris.**

**Author's Note: Just wanted to thank everyone who is reading, reviewing, and favoriting this story it really means so much to me so keep it coming. **

* * *

**Chapter 7: Not Human**

Both Kit and Daryl's eyes were wide as the watched the military helicopters firing on an American city. The idea was terrifying; actually witnessing it was so much more. It said a lot about the situation that they were all in, it was clear that this wasn't something that would be fixed in a few days. It would take time, hell if it was ever fixed. It was seeing the people who'd been parked the closest to the city that snapped Daryl from his shocked daze. He looked around at the cars that were parked around them. While there had been several people trying to get their cars turned around it seemed that none of those cars were around them. Not to mention the fact that it was a terrible idea, already there were fender-benders and pile ups. He knew that the smart move would to hide out in the woods until the coast was clear. "Get your gun get to the woods." He said.

Kit nodded as she climbed into the van and grabbed her gun and her black hoodie. "Don't go being a hero, Daryl." She said tucking the gun in the back of her pants and started to zip her hoodie.

Daryl pushed her hands away and finished zipping the hoodie for her. "You get yourself safe I'll come find you." He leaned down and kissed her softly. "Now go."

Kit gave Daryl one last time, he was heading to the truck to wake Merle's trashed ass up and grab his cross bow. She gave him a nod before pulling her hood up and heading into the woods. All of her life she'd believed that the only time one should run is if they were being chased. As she made her way into the woods she was starting to regret that belief along with all of that caffeine she'd been mainlining for years. Once she was far enough away from the highway she hid behind a tree giving herself time to catch her breath. Just when she was ready to start running again she heard someone scream followed by a child calling for his mother. Without a second thought Kit pulled out her gun and made sure it was cocked and ready before she started to run in the direction of the screams.

Lori had been in the process of helping Carl climb a tree to safety when she was grabbed by the ankle and jerked onto the ground. Nothing in her life had ever prepared her for what was about to happen to her. Sure there were all kinds of Lifetime movies about it; she could remember Rick teasing her for watching them. God she missed her husband she even missed the times that he didn't speak and she yelled at him. She'd do anything to have him back and alive. Of course thoughts of Rick wasn't going to get her out of this. "Come on sweet thing open those pretty legs." The man who was ripping at her clothes sneered at her.

"Get off of me!" Lori cried as she scratched at the man's face only to have him slap her hard.

"Mom! I'm coming to help you!" the boy yelled bravely.

"You stay up there Carl and you close your eyes!" Lori yelled to her son.

This was the scene that Kit ran up to, she could feel the bile bubbling in her stomach as she raised her gun and squeezed off two rounds before running to Lori and pushing the body off of her. "Are you alright?" she asked.

Lori's body was shaking as she slowly set up clutching the front of her shirt closed. "You…you killed him."

Kit quickly pulled her hoodie off and wrapped it around Lori. "He wasn't human to begin with."

"But he wasn't one of those things." Lori said.

"No but he was just as bad, he was going to rape you and probably kill you." Kit said, "Come on we need to get further away from the road."

"My son he's in the tree." Lori said as Kit helped her up off of the ground. "Carl…come on down it's safe."

"I wouldn't go that far." Kit said under her breath. "I'm Kit Harris by the way."

"Lori Grimes." She said watching her son climb down the tree. "This is Carl."

Carl looked up at the woman who'd helped his mom. "You know how to shoot a gun?"

Kit nodded, "My dad showed me how when I was probably younger than you are."

"See mom…her dad let her shoot." Carl said. "I don't see why you won't let Shane teach me. If I had a gun I would have been able to save you."

Kit messed the little boy's hair, "It's not that easy kiddo." She said before turning to Lori, "You think you're up for moving again?"

Lori nodded, "Yeah."

* * *

The sky was starting to turn pink when Daryl made his way into the woods. After he sent Kit off and he got Merle out of 'bed' all hell broke loose on the highway. Whatever had gone down in the city had started to spill over the fear infecting everyone around them. As soon as he found Kit they were packing up their things and they were heading as far away from any major city as they could. He didn't give two shits about what Merle said, Kit was right they never should have come anywhere near the city. They'd find a cabin or something up in the woods and they'd hold up there. He didn't have to track Kit very far; she'd already started to circle back towards the highway. He couldn't deny the overwhelming sense of relief when he saw her. "Hey." He said pulling her into his arms hugging her tightly.

Kit closed her eyes and laid her head against his shoulder, "I'm okay." She assured him before reluctantly pulling back, "This is Lori and Carl they ran into some trouble in the woods."

Daryl frowned, "Nothing serious I hope." He couldn't help but think back to when he and Merle found Kit and Annie that fateful day at camp.

"No it was nothing like that." She assured him.

"Wow….cool a crossbow." The boy said in amazement when he saw Daryl's preferred weapon. "I wanna learn to shoot one of those."

"When you're older we'll talk about it." Lori said her hand resting on her son's shoulder.

"But mom…." Carl protested.

Daryl slung his crossbow over his shoulders. "Your mom's right kid…'sides your arm's too short."

Carl held his arm out in front of him, "It is not." He sulked.

"We need to get back to the road." Kit said.

"Come on." Daryl pressed his hand to the small of her back as they headed towards the road.

The air was thick with smoke and ash when they came out of the woods, making their eyes burn and water. It was clear that what Kit had witnessed before her trek into the woods had only been the beginning. The military didn't stop at bombing the city, many of the cars towards the front of the road block had been torched and as well. There were only a handful of people left on the highway, some of them looking for missing parts of their groups others looting carts that had been left behind. "We need to get ready to head out." Daryl said pulling away from Kit to go and talk to his brother.

Merle was where Daryl had left him sitting on the tailgate of the pickup truck, his rifle in one hand a cigarette in the other. "Told you all this was a bad idea," Merle said.

"Shut up Merle." Daryl said, he was beyond exhausted and in no mood to deal with bullshit.

"I'm just sayin'." Merle said.

As they chatted back and forth trying to get an idea of what their next move should be, when Shane walked up to them. "Can we help you Officer Dolittle?" Daryl asked.

Shane ignored the jab, "Lori told me about what happened in the woods, what your girl did for her."

"Yeah?" Daryl asked.

Shane nodded, "There's a group of us heading out to a quarry not too far from here, just thought we'd extend an invitation for you to join us."

Before Daryl got a chance to tell the man to shove his invitation up his ass Merle interrupted, "We'll accept that invitation."

Daryl raised an eyebrow at his brother, deep down he knew that this was gonna go badly.


	8. Chapter 8: Survivor

**Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Walking Dead, sometimes I take it out of the box and play with it for a little while, I do however own Kit and Annie Harris.**

**Author's Note: **Just wanted to thank everyone who is reading, reviewing, and favoriting this story it really means so much to me so keep it coming.** To VealMaster: **Thank you so much for your review, I'm not gonna lie I read it twice back to back because it gave me the warmest of the warm fuzzies. I'm so glad that you like the portrayal of the characters in this story. The idea for this story, like I've mentioned before, was inspired a lot by the personality of the characters in S03. I wanted to do something different than what I had done with the characters in my other stories. I started thinking well I wonder how well a nerd girl would do in the zombie apocalypse. Out of all of my characters she's probably the most like me other than the fact that she's a whole lot more coordinated than I am. If I were to go running into the woods I'd trip fall and die. I also get tired of seeing these original characters that are pretty much the carbon copy of the Dixon boys with boobs. I just don't see them falling for that especially Daryl because you can watch the show and see that he has a need to protect maybe because of the things he'd been through in the past. Of course I also hate the snotty females who won't pick up a goddamn shovel and defend herself either. With Kit I wanted to bring someone to the table who was capable of doing what she needs to do to survive. **To FanFicGirl10:** Well you know…Merle is what he is. I will say don't give up on him yet he does have reasons for being the way that he is. **To piratejessieswaby, My Guest Reviewer, Dalonega Noquisi, PeacefulDuck:** Thank you so much for your reviews.

* * *

**Chapter 8: Survivor **

Daryl waited until Shane was out of hearing distance before he glared down at his brother. He knew that there was something going on in that head of his and knowing Merle, especially Merle when he was using that something wasn't good…not good at all. "What the hell are you thinking, Merle?" Daryl asked in a low voice.

Merle gave his brother a good natured grin, "Now what makes you think that I'm thinking something?"

"I know you. I know that you're scheming something." Daryl said.

"I'm just trying to look out for you and Kit." Merle said.

Daryl shook his head, "Cut the shit."

Merle sighed, "Fine, I'm thinking that we get in good with this group and when they least expected it we rob them blind."

"You gotta be shittin' me." Daryl ran his hand over his face. Problem was he knew Merle wasn't shitting him, that he intended to go through with it and expected him to help. "You get that thought out of your head Merle."

Merle stood up and got in his brother's face, "You saw what it was like last night, it's kill or be killed now. You wanna make sure that skank is taken care of you best be takin' my advice."

"We ain't doin' this." Daryl said before stomping off towards Kit's van.

* * *

Daryl bit back a groan when he pulled the door to the van opened. He hadn't even thought to knock; his mind had been preoccupied with other things like sticking his boot up his brother's ass for starters. When he opened the ban door he happened to get a very long look at Kit's bare back as she pulled a fresh tee shirt on. His thoughts were instantly brought back to true night before and how good that hot little mouth of hers had felt on his skin. "Shit...I'm sorry Kit." He said.

Kit turned around and give him a small smile. "It's okay Daryl."

Daryl set down in the van and closed the door behind him. He pulled her into his lap and kissed her hungrily his tongue thrusting slowly into her mouth. He slid his hands up her back holding her firmly against him. It was what he wanted to do to do her the moment he found her in the woods and saw that she was alright. Slowly he pulled back and pressed his forehead against hers as they both struggled to catch their breath.

"Damn Daryl." Kit finally managed.

"Yeah." He agreed, "Now, what happened up in the woods last night?"

"Oh." Kit frowned, "Um it was kinda fucked up."

Daryl could tell by the way she recoiled from the question that whatever happened in the woods was something that had upset her. "Hey...you can talk to me Kit." He pushed a strand of hair from her face.

"I killed someone...a live someone." She said. "Granted, he was a price of shit. He was trying to rape Lori that cop's girlfriend. Her kid was up in the tree, it was sick Daryl. Those dead things they have no control about what they are doing. They only have one instinct and that is to eat. Dont know what causes it what makes them think that raw flesh and blood is what they need but this was a person. He made a conscious decision to hurt Lori. I just...I dont get it."

Daryl pulled her against his chest. "You didn't do anything wrong. You did what was right."

"Then why do I feel like this?" She asked looking up at him.

"Cause you've been through shit." He said. "The rules from the old world they dont matter. We gotta do what we gotta do to survive."

"I think we should probably get away from here." She said.

"We got invited to join a group that's gonna make camp at some quarry. Figure might not be a bad idea at least until we come up with something better." Daryl said.

"Is that a good idea...I mean with Merle and all?" She looked up at him.

"Right now it's the only reasonable plan that we got." He shrugged. Daryl left out the parts about his brothers plan to rob the camp blind. She didn't need to know about all of that. She had enough on her mind. He'd handle Merle and his scheming bullshit.

* * *

The quarry was about a fifteen minute drive from the highway where they'd spent the night. It was far enough into the woods that it wasn't visible from the main roads but close enough that from the cliffs above the water where they were setting up camp they could see some of the taller buildings from the city's skyline. The idea was that they were far enough away from the town they should be safe from the walking corpses but they also be able to see any military that came wondering their camp. As it turned out it wasn't just the cop and his family that they were joining in the camp. There was also an older gentleman named Dale and his two companions, they were sisters Andrea and Amy. Apparently Dale had found them stranded on the side of the road, when everything happened they'd been on a road trip. Then there was the Peletier family which included a bulldog looking man who chain smoked and barked orders at his wife Carol and their daughter Sophia. From the instant Kit was introduced to him she had an uneasy feeling. Maybe it was because of the leering looks he gave the other women among the group. Then there was a Hispanic family: Morales and his wife Miranda and their two children Eliza and Louis. There were also a handful of other survivors as well an Asian kid named Glenn, a black man and woman named T-Dog and Jacqui, and finally Jim he'd been a mechanic in Atlanta and the night the bombs were dropped barely managed to escape with his life. With all these new people around Kit couldn't help but feel a little on the uncomfortable side. Call it a product of her upraising but she'd never done well in social situations, that had always been Annie's strong suit. At the same time, it was nice being around people again. In a lot of ways it took the pressure off of the growing animosity that was between her and Merle. There was enough work to do to occupy both of them that the verbal daggers that had become a common occurrence between them were now put on hold. She knew that it made things much easier for Daryl as well now that he wasn't having to run interference between them.

Kit was in the process of gathering the food that they'd brought with them to add it to the group's rations when Lori walked up to her. "Here I thought you might want this back." She said handing Kit her hoodie back.

"Um…yeah thanks." Kit said taking it and laying it on her bed.

"I just wanted to let you know that I'm really grateful for what you did for me and Carl last night." She said leaning against the side of the van.

Kit shrugged, "I just did what anyone else would have."

"Where did you learn to shoot like that?" Lori asked.

"As soon as my sister and I were big enough to hold a gun he made sure that we could protect ourselves if the time ever called for it." Kit explained.

"You know Rick…he tried to get me to learn to shoot for years but I never really saw the point in it. Now I wish I would have listened." Lori said.

"I thought your boyfriend's name was Shane."

Lori shook her head, "No, Shane was my husband's partner. He was shot and he went into a coma and never woke up." She explained her eyes filling with tears. "It all happened so fast, he's only been gone for about a week."

"That sucks." Kit said, "My sister was killed four days ago, we were camping in the woods and those things surprised her. Sometimes I forget that she's gone and I expect to see her or hear her talking and then I remember."

"It gets easier." Lori said. "Or maybe it got easier for me because he'd been in that coma for so long. The pain it never really goes away but it gets better."

Kit nodded as she wiped her tears on the back of her hand, "Thanks…for that."

After her conversation with Kit, Lori walked back over to where Shane was sitting her tent up. "You're wrong about her, she's not a victim. She's a survivor, I'm sure whoever hit her got it back as good as he gave it."


	9. Chapter 9: Around the Fire

**Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Walking Dead, sometimes I take it out of the box and play with it for a little while, I do however own Kit and Annie Harris.**

**Author's Note:** Just wanted to thank everyone who is reading, reviewing, and favoriting this story it really means so much to me so keep it coming. I just wanted to throw out there the fact that time will be moving a little faster now that the group has been formed. I know that on the TV show and comics it gives the impression that they'd been camping outside of Atlanta for a few weeks but for story purposes that really won't work for what I have in mind so please bear with me.

**To VealMaster:** I that it will be following cannon through season 1 but after that I really haven't decided. **To FanFicGirl10: **I really have mixed thoughts on if he would have gone along with Merle with robbing the camp. It's actually been the topic of many discussions between me and my friends at work. I think it's really hard to say. **To Dalonega Noquisi:** The different stories I do, I like to pull out different aspects of what could be expected from Daryl. I think that put into different situations with different people around he'd behave differently, if that makes sense.

**Chapter 9: Around the Fire**

That night everyone gathered around the camp fire, well everyone except for Merle who'd headed up into the woods for a little alone time. At least that's what he told the group, both Kit and Daryl knew that it wouldn't be long before they figured out exactly what Merle was sneaking off by himself to do. Kit just hoped that by the time they figured it out they would have a game plan as to what their next move would be. "So how long do you think it will be until they figure out what's going on?" Amy asked.

Kit bit back a snort, she could tell just by looking at the pretty blond girl that she'd been an overly pampered daughter. It wasn't something that Kit had a problem with; in fact some of her friends from college had been like that. "I don't think it is going to get better." She said honestly.

"Why do you think that?" Shane asked.

"I just…if you think about it those things out number us probably a hundred to one. I think that if the government, after what we saw last night still exists then they had no idea what they're up against. The fact that it's this wide spread after only a few weeks it says a lot." She explained.

"Yeah but they would have moved the President and his staff to a safe base, they're probably underground somewhere." Shane said. "I mean they'd protect him at all costs."

"It takes one person being infected and not telling anyone to infect a whole group." Kit said, "Say one of his secret service guys got bit while they were moving him. He gets locked in with them and he turns and then he attacks those around him…it keeps going on and our only source of government is gone."

The Asian boy Glenn nodded, "She's right, even if they managed to safely secure the government it doesn't matter much. We're cut off from them, it doesn't really matter much."

"How do you know all this?" Shane asked.

"Well…" Kit's cheeks turned pink, "I um…read a lot and I play video games?"

"So you're saying that you're basing all of your knowledge on video games and books?" Shane asked.

"She's been right so far." Daryl said. "Hell if it hadn't been for her me and Merle probably would have been dead by now."

"I just…video games?" Shane asked again. "You're talking like _Left 4 Duty_ and _Call of Honor_ and shit?"

"I think you mean _Left 4 Dead, Call of Duty,_ and _Metal of Honor_." Glenn said then shrugged when Shane cut him a look.

Kit nodded, "Yeah pretty much, of course you should be happy these things don't run cause that would be some shit."

"So what did you do before all of this?" Dale asked Kit.

"I owned a comic book store, _Geekpazola, _over in Clayton. Which it was more than just comic books we also carried video games, certain movies and TV shows, any memorabilia." She explained. "What about you all?"

"I was retired," Dale said. "My wife died a few years ago of cancer and she'd always wanted to do the driving across America thing. We never got a chance to so I decided to do it in her honor."

"It was lucky he was doing that else me and Amy probably would be one of those things by now." Andrea said. "I was a civil rights lawyer; Amy and I were on a road trip before she started college."

"What about you?" Shane nodded Daryl.

"Oh you know…this and that." Daryl shrugged, "Construction when there was work, sometimes factory, a little mechanicing. I was always good with my hands, like to tinker and stuff. Figured tomorrow I'd head up into the woods. I saw that we ain't got a whole lot of rations, I'll see what I can track down."

"You hunt?" Shane asked.

"You surprised?" Daryl raised an eyebrow.

"I think that would be good." Dale said trying to break the tension between Daryl and Shane.

"I can probably do some city runs." Glenn threw in.

"You sure that's a good idea?" Lori asked.

"Most of those things are deeper in the city." Glenn said. "There are some department stores and grocery stores near the city limits. I think I can get to them without being pinned down."

"Hey I'll go with you." T-Dog offered.

Glenn shook his head. "No I think it would be best for me to go solo. At least for now, I wanna get the basic layout first. I don't want anyone else's blood on my hands."

They chatted back and forth after that talking about the different things that they'd done before the world had gone to pot. Ed Peletier had been a car sales man and surprise-surprise his wife had been a home maker. Kit almost felt sorry for the woman, she seemed very sweet but she nor her daughter were able to breath because of Ed's overbearing bullshit. Then there was Morales and Miranda who'd helped run Morales' family's restaurant at least that was until the patrons decided to eat each other rather than the fantastic Mexican fair.

Once the children were put to bed the women started clearing away the mess from dinner, while the men decided how they were going to handle watch detail. While there hadn't been any signs that those things had made it to the area that didn't mean they wanted to risk it. Besides they also wanted to keep a look out just in case those Army Reserves decided to try to lay waste to them thinking they were part of the infected in Atlanta. "Three weeks into the end of the world and the feminist movement is completely forgotten." Andrea said as she wiped one of the plates dry before grabbing another one.

"I don't think that civil rights and the feminist movement really matters much when you have dead people trying to eat your face." Kit said.

"Hey I'm just saying, it's a little shitty that we're cleaning up the camp and they're just sitting around." Andrea said. "I mean I have a gun shouldn't that give me rights to help protect the camp?"

"Do you even know how to use it?" Kit asked.

"Well…no." Andrea said. "My dad gave it to me before me and Amy left for our trip. He said that two women on their own should have some protection."

"It's good thinking on his part." Kit amended after all the man's heart was in the right place. It probably would have made a whole lot more sense if he also would have taken her to the shooting range a time or two. "So you've never actually fired it?"

"Have you ever shot a gun?" Andrea asked. "You know…besides video games?"

"Almost every day since I was five," Kit said. "My dad…he was a survivalist."

"Was?" Lori asked.

"He died about a year ago." Kit explained. She didn't get into the details after all she didn't think it was important. Her father was an interesting man but outsiders never really understood him or his motives. "Anyway bitching about the work doesn't help it get done any faster and fact is it has to be done. Plus the smell will draw things…animals and stuff and that's probably not something we need to deal with." Lori, Miranda, and Carol gave Kit looks of thanks and approval, while they didn't come out and say it Andrea's jabs about the feminist movement had hurt each of them on different levels. The three women had been homemakers before everything had gone down and it was in their nature to nurture and take care of others. They knew that Jacqui, Andrea and Amy didn't understand that and probably never would.


	10. Chapter 10: Piss and Vinegar

**Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Walking Dead, sometimes I take it out of the box and play with it for a little while, I do however own Kit and Annie Harris.**

**Author's Note: **Just wanted to thank everyone who is reading, reviewing, and favoriting this story it really means so much to me so keep it coming. **To VealMaster:** Left 4 Dead is amazing…I've been burning it up on PC lately…well that is until Survival Instincts came out and that's what I've been playing the last few days. As for the social collapse, I guess for me it just seems like that would be common sense. I've read a bunch of stuff about the ZA and everything and I was actually a history major and when a society collapses things happen, people panic, out of the people who are left you have strong ones that take over some of those people are good and the things they do are good and others are hell bent on power. Some of the ideology that Kit talks about like a large group going underground would be bad that actually comes from the book World War Z. **To FanFicGirl10:** I want to say that my comment about feminism not mattering doesn't mean that I'm anti-feminism. My actual issues with the feminist movement is when you start trying to strip everything female about a woman and saying that if you wear lipstick and high heeled shoes you can't be a feminist. When I said that civil rights and feminism didn't matter anymore was because there were things that had to be done no matter what. Kit didn't mean that women should do 'women's work' and men should do 'men's work'. What she was trying to say was that work's work no matter what is was and it had to get done. **To Dalonega Noquisi:** I'm sorry it was too short I'll try to do better next time.

* * *

**Chapter 10: Piss and Vinegar **

It was probably past two in the morning by the time Daryl made it to Kit's van. He'd never seen so many worthless pains the in the ass in his entire life. Sure the old man, Dale, he wasn't too bad. A little idealistic maybe, but Daryl believed that came with living a full life and he could accept that. Most of the problem lay with that asshole cop, Shane. So maybe it went without saying that Daryl didn't like him, and it wasn't just because he was a cop. He hated anyone with that 'holier than thou' attitude and Shane Walsh fully believed his shit didn't stink. The problem was that he felt that because he had been a cop that he was entitled to dictate how things should be handled even if there were better ways of doing things. Then throw in the mix that you had assholes like Ed Peletier, who felt like he shouldn't have to take a night watch because he had a wife and a kid didn't make matters any better. By the end of the two hours of discussion how things should be handled, Daryl ended up volunteering for the first shift on watch along with Mr. Wonderful himself, Shane. It was a grueling three hours of sitting atop of Dale's RV staring off into the dark abyss that made up the forest surrounding them. In fact the only excitement that they had was Merle coming out of the woods completely wasted and accidently stumbling into Jacqui's tent and scaring the hell out of her. If it hadn't been for the fact that Merle was still pretty tore up about Annie, Daryl probably would have called into question it being an accident. Then finally when he thought the night wouldn't end, T-Dog and Glenn slowly stumbled to the RV in the dark their eyes still matted with sleep.

Daryl made sure not to make too much noise as he opened the aging door to the VW Bus and slipped inside shutting it as quietly as possible. The whole time he'd been on watch he could only think about one thing and that was finish what he and Kit had started the night before on the highway. When he saw her there lying peacefully in a deep sleep he couldn't bring himself to wake her. He'd know that her sleep hadn't been deep, nor had it been peaceful since the night she'd had to put Annie down. He wished that he could erase that pain for her, he wished more than anything he could bring Annie back. Not just for the fact that she was able to keep Merle inline but also because he hated when his brother got like this. He knew that it wouldn't be long before he headed down the one way path with no turning back. Pushing that dark thought from his mind, he kicked off his boots and took his belt off laying them on the floor in front of where he'd propped his crossbow when he came into the van. He couldn't help but grin a little when he saw Kit lying on her side, her long black hair veiling her face instead of in a braid. Slowly, he pulled the blankets back on the bed and slid under them and without a second thought pulled her back against his chest and pressed a kiss to her shoulder before closing his eyes and going to sleep.

The next morning Kit woke to the sound of people stirring around the camp. As she slowly opened her eyes she realized that it wasn't quite light out yet. Since the outbreak had occurred it hadn't been easy for people to actually sleep, everyone was far too afraid of being attacked in that moment of weakness. It would eventually catch up with them but for now the best thing was to keep busy and not think about it. Slowly she pushed herself up and ran her hand through her tangle of long hair. She looked over her shoulder and saw the dent in the pillow beside of hers. It was the sign that Daryl had sometime came to bed the night before, she just couldn't remember when. The lack of sleep the night before last had finally caught up with her and just as her head touched the pillow she'd fallen into a deep dreamless sleep. An honest truth about sharing a bed with Daryl was the fact that when he was near her she slept without nightmares. She wasn't sure exactly why it was and she didn't want to question it, whatever it was that was going on between her and Daryl it was good.

Daryl was sitting on one of the logs near the campfire, a plate of beans in his hands and a cup of coffee by his feet. Under any other circumstances he'd already drug Merle out of bed and headed into the woods to hunt, he knew that Kit didn't do well with strangers and he wanted to make sure she was okay before headed out. He told himself it had to do with the fact that the last time he and Merle had left her alone to go on a hunt, undead assholes ripped apart their camp and killed her sister. The underlying truth that he was playing close to chest that he wasn't even really fully admitting to himself was that he wanted to see her before headed out. He was snapped from his thoughts when he saw the side doors of the van push opened and Kit stumbled out her back pack tossed over one shoulder, it was clear that she was heading down to the quarry for a quick dip in the water to shock her awake. It was a routine he'd gotten used to seeing her follow everyday while they'd been camping outside of Clayton.

Glenn, who'd been sitting on the log opposite of Daryl held his hand up and waved to Kit, "Morning-"

"Don't engage!" Daryl snapped at the Asian boy.

"Huh?" Glenn asked the look on his face that of utter confusion.

"Trust me until she gets woke up you don't wanna talk to her. Hell it's not even talking really it's more like grunting she can barely string two words together." Daryl explained.

"It can't be that bad." Glenn said.

"One morning she almost took Merle's hand off." Daryl said.

"She seems so sweet."

"That girl sweet?" Merle's gravelly voice sounding behind Daryl, "That one is full of piss and vinegar."

Glenn looked over his shoulder at the path Kit had taken towards the water, "You sure?"

Merle grinned at his brother as he helped himself to the beans and coffee, "Looks like you got some competition baby brother."

Glenn paled, "On no it's nothing like that it's just that she seems really cool and all."

Daryl just shook his head as he slowly stood up, he'd had enough conversation and beans that he could handle. "You go half an hour to be ready to go." He said to Merle.

"Are we going on a trip?" Merle asked.

"We're gonna go hunt. Can't handle much more of that canned meat bullshit." He said before refilling his coffee cup and heading towards the water.

Kit was on her way back to camp when she saw Daryl walking towards, she could smell the coffee before she could see it and the aroma was almost enough to make her moan. "Please tell me that's for me." She said.

Daryl grinned, "Maybe."

She raised an eyebrow, "Maybe? What's that supposed to mean?"

"What's in it for me?" he asked.

Kit leaned up and kissed softly distracting him as she took the cup of coffee from him. "That work for you?" she asked pulling back and taking a drink.

"It's not too bad," he said with a shrug. "Me and Merle are heading, we should be back this afternoon. Try to stay out of trouble this time."

Kit gave him a look of mocked shock. "Me…trouble? You gotta be kidding."

"Oh hell no you Harris girls are nothing but trouble." He said then realized what he said. He hated the sadness he saw filling Kit's pale blue eyes. "I didn't mean-"

She nodded, "I know Daryl it's okay really."

He cupped her chin in his hand, "I mean it behave." He leaned down and kissed her again.

"Yeah yeah." She teased.

"I'm taking Merle with that way he won't get into any trouble." Daryl said.

"I'll be okay." She assured him and with that they headed back to camp.


	11. Chapter 11: Inheritance

**Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Walking Dead, sometimes I take it out of the box and play with it for a little while, I do however own Kit and Annie Harris.**

**Author's Note: Just** wanted to thank everyone who is reading, reviewing, and favoriting this story it really means so much to me so keep it coming. Sorry it's taken me a few days to update, I've been a little under the weather and Sunday's TWD episode absolutely broke my heart. Not gonna lie….it made me cry…both times that I watched it. **To VealMaster: **The comment about Merle's hand was actually accidently on purpose. What I mean is that when I first wrote the chapter I had added it without even thinking about it when I went back and edited it I was like…huh….and I had to leave it in there because it was just too good. As for Merle, I've considered a lot of different angles as to how I'm going to handle that and like I said this story will follow cannon through season 1, when season 2 rolls around all bets are off. I think there are things that happen in season 1 that is very important for the development of the story. I too have read some amazing stories where Merle is rescued one of my favorites being A Million Reasons Why by BeingLolaStar; it's well thought out and well written. I haven't gotten very far into Survival Instinct sadly enough…damn that work thing. What all I have played it's pretty good, I was actually pretty surprised by the game play and my personal opinion, it's hard a shit, the story is awesome and the dialogue is great so I do recommend. **To FanFicGirl10 and Dalonega Noquisi:** I'm a horrible morning person, pretty much my husband thinks that if he doesn't wake me up an hour before we go somewhere I won't be able to function. When it comes to waking me up…one could definitely loose a finger or an eye.

* * *

**Chapter 11: Inheritance**

Kit couldn't explain the antsy feeling that she had as she watched Daryl and Merle go into the woods. She had no fear about them coming back; after all they were both more comfortable being secluded out in the woods than with a large group of people. Maybe it was being thrust in this group with people that she wasn't prepared for, she didn't know and to be honest, she wasn't even sure if she liked them. She knew that it probably wasn't fair but it was how she felt. Of course she felt the same way about her college roommate and in the end that had turned out alright. Knowing that the best thing she could do was just metaphorically rip the band aid off, she tossed the book she'd been reading aside and tucked her hands into her pocket and walked over to where Lori was sitting with Andrea, Carol, and Amy while Sophia and Carl played with Louis and Eliza not far from them. "Mornin' Kit." Lori said as Kit set down in the camp chair beside of her.

"Morning," Kit said.

"We were trying to come up with a plan how we're going to handle the work around the camp." Carol said quietly as she looked over her shoulder. Kit couldn't help but notice the woman's husband standing not too far away, a cigarette in one hand a beer in the other. She couldn't help but wonder exactly what he was going to do when he ran out of his two vices. She had a feeling that it wasn't going to be pretty and that she didn't want to be anywhere around when that happened.

"Um…anything you need help with." Kit said. "I do kinda…suck at laundry though."

Amy gave Kit a sympathetic look, "I thought a washboard was Abs related until recently. Dale had one in his RV and Glenn is going to see what he can find in the city."

"Don't worry we'll get you two sorted out." Lori said with a good natured smile.

"So you think they'll find anything." Andrea asked nodding in the direction that Merle and Daryl had disappeared.

Kit nodded, "They'll come back with something, they always do." She shrugged. "Might be something small…squirrel or something but at this point food's food."

Andrea made a face, "Squirrel, people actually eat that?"

Kit shrugged, "It's not that bad."

"So…how did you end up with those two?" Andrea asked. "I mean, they just don't seem like the type of people someone like you would know."

Kit could have easily got offended by Andrea's comment if she wanted to, but she knew that the older blonde woman was just curious. Hell had she been one of them she probably would have been curious herself. "I've known Merle and Daryl since was barley 16…."

_~Flashback~_

_Christmas 1999_

_Kit was sitting in the porch swing bundled up in her father's old army jacket and her old Strawberry Shortcake comforter covering her legs. Clutched in her gloved hands was her Christmas present a new Berry colored Gameboy Color in her hands. Even though the package had said the gift had been from her father, she knew the truth. Annie had bought it and the games to go along with it and said they were from him. Deep down she knew the truth, McKeevey Harris barely knew that he was in this world much less that he had daughters that depended on him. While he hadn't always been a doting father, the sloppy drunk that he'd become since their mother had died almost a year ago was something else entirely. What made matters worse was the fact that just after she'd been buried he made them pack up their things and moved them to Clayton, Georgia. They were now isolated from everyone they'd ever known, even their family that lived in Kentucky. Christmas this year well with just her an Annie it didn't seem much like Christmas. Mick was off at a local bar getting drunk as usual; hell he probably didn't even know it was Christmas. _

_Kit's attention was snapped away from her Gameboy and _Ghosts 'n Goblins_ when she heard the loud sound of a truck pulling into the driveway. Her first thought was that maybe Mick had remembered his family after all but as she looked up she realized that she'd never seen the truck before in her life. Her first thought had been to go inside and grab the handgun that her father kept in the table by the door but she stopped herself. The man that climbed out of the truck didn't seem too bad, he was probably about Annie's age around 21 or so maybe a little older. He had brown hair that was a little shaggy and a day's growth of beard on his face. But what Kit had found about him that was so compelling was the man's eyes; they were a stormy greyish blue. The sadness that she saw there was like nothing else she'd ever seen in her whole life. "You Mick Harris' girl?" he called. _

_Kit nodded, "I'm Kit Harris." She said. _

_The man nodded, "I'm Daryl Dixon, your old man was raisin' some hell up at Wally's. I got him before the cops did; he passed out in my truck on the way here." _

_Kit knew the name _Dixon _probably better than she did her own. It was name that she heard on the lips of her sister constantly, only it wasn't Daryl that she talked about it was Merle. Why her sister had become involved with the man she still wasn't sure, after all Annie was really pretty and Merle was…well he was Merle. "You need me to help you get him?" she asked. _

"_Nah I can handle him, you just get the doors." He said. _

_Nearly ten minutes later Mick Harris was face down in bed with his boots still on passed out cold and Kit had no idea what to say to the stranger standing in her living room. "You okay kid?" he asked. _

_Kit nodded, "I'm fine…embarrassed but you know fine. And I'm not a kid." She said standing up a little straighter. "I'm 16." _

_Daryl smirked at the girl; she was a skinny little thing nothing but black hair, baggy clothes, and combat boots. He'd heard a lot about the Harris girls from his older brother. "You're still a kid." He said lighting a cigarette and taking a long drag from it. "You shouldn't be ashamed of your family; they're the only ones that will unconditionally have your back." _

"_The only people whose back my dad has is Jack, Jim, and Jose." She said her arms cross under her breasts. _

"_Your dad he's going through some shit." He said. On more than one occasion he'd set with Mick at the bar and listen to the older man spill his sorrows about his wife and the piss poor job he was doing at raising his girls. "You had anything to eat, kid?"_

"_Annie made Christmas breakfast this morning but she had a shift at the diner at the truck stop." Kit shrugged. "I was gonna have some Ramien later." _

_Daryl made a face; he couldn't imagine anyone having those cardboard noodles for Christmas dinner…or any kinda dinner. "Come on I'll get you something to eat." _

_Kit gave him a skeptical look, "I don't know…what if he starts drowning in his own puke?" _

_Daryl laughed at that, "He's face down, he shouldn't drown." _

_Kit nodded as she grabbed her messenger bag that was covered in patches and buttons and walked with Daryl out of the house. _

_~End to Flashback~_

"And you just went with him?" Lori asked.

Kit nodded, "Daryl's harmless…well for the most part anyway."

"I couldn't imagine going off with a strange man that I didn't know when I was 16." Carol said. "If Sophia did that I'd probably ground her for life."

"Yeah well, I already knew Merle." Kit shrugged. "Besides the way I figured it he knew my dad…he knew Annie and he knew that in that messenger bag covered in patches was a handgun." It was when all the women started to laugh that Kit realized that she was starting to warm to them.

* * *

It was late afternoon when Daryl and Merle made it back to camp. As soon as they did they parted ways, Merle headed to his tent while Daryl sought out Kit. "Looks like you're gonna get that bunny stew." She said nodding to the rope that held several rabbits.

Daryl gave her a small grin, "Looks that way, you gonna start bitchin' about it?" he teased.

She shook her head, "Nah at this point food's food. Not everything can be as magic as Ramien."

"Says you." He snorted as he pulled his knife out.

Kit frowned when she saw Merle come out his tent and head into the woods for his evening ritual. "He not gonna help?"

Daryl shook his head, "Nah, Merle he does better with bigger game. This many mouths to feed, we need all the meat we can spare."

Kit nodded, "How's he doing?"

Daryl shrugged as he started to clean one of the rabbits, "Can't really say, when we're up in the woods we don't really talk all that much. Good news is I saw some deer tracks today, I get a few of them and we'll be set for a while as far as meat goes. Just so long as we don't get none of those eaters up here we should be doin' good. Wasn't til we started seein' them before that we had problems with food."

Kit nodded her brow wrinkling, "You think we'll get some up here?"

Daryl gave her a serious look, "We'll get them up here, it's bound to happen. They'll run out of food in the city after a while. All those things know to do is eat, they'll have to find food other places. The only thing that worries me is this group. We only have a handful of guns: Merle's rifle, my handgun, your's Annies, that old man has a rifle, and the cop has two guns oh and that lawyer girl. That's it and I'm sure ammo is probably low right now too. Hell the rest of those slobs probably wouldn't know how to use them if they had to neither.

Kit nodded as she thought to the army foot locker that was shoved under the seat in the van, "That's not entirely true." Kit said.

Daryl frowned, "What do you mean?"

"I have something to show you." She said standing up.

* * *

Once Daryl and Kit were in the van with the doors shut she made sure that the paisley print curtains were closed. She knew that the rest of the group probably though that she brought Daryl back to the van for a quicky and she was okay with them believing that. "What are we doin'?" he asked out of curiosity.

Kit pulled the chest from under the seat and undone the lock on it, "Well you remember how Annie pawned all of my dad's guns?" she asked.

Daryl nodded, "I thought Merle would choke her out over that."

"Well…I kinda bought them back." She said opening the lid to the chest that was filled with ammo and her father's prized semi-automatic rifles. "I didn't buy the one he used but….the rest I did. Annie didn't know. I figured this was like our inheritance you know." She shrugged. "When all this started going down I thought we'd need them and then when we got to the woods Merle started to get a little….well Merle. I didn't say anything because I didn't know how he'd react."

Daryl nodded, "And now?"

"I don't think it's the right time to say anything. I'm not sure if I really trust these people yet." She explained.

"Why did you tell me?" he asked.

"Because I trust you." She said looking up at him their blue eyes locking.


End file.
